Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants could be at risk because of lax research oversight at the state's medical university, according to a previously undisclosed portion of the federal monitor's report.

The new material, whose conclusions University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey officials vigorously disputed, found the school had "no research compliance capability" -- jeopardizing future funding, as well as the health of patients in clinical studies.

At issue is the university's problem-plagued Office of Ethics and Compliance, and UMDNJ's ability to audit research spending and report violations of clinical studies' guidelines to the federal governemnt.

The confidential portion of the report found the ethics office, whose director, Michael R. Clarke, recently resigned, had failed in performing critical oversight of federal research grants.

The new disclosures marked the latest in a long series of allegations of wrongdoing at the publicly funded institution.